Hi! I'm in the Environmental Horticulture department at the University of Florida and I'm trying to build an online, multiple-entry key to help students identify the plant families. I have permission to modify and build on a similar script that was written at Colby College, but the computer people there don't have time (understandably) to help me with basic questions. So I'm hoping that someone here can help me out.
Here is the Colby site: http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/BI211/PlantFamilyID.html
Here is the Colby script: http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/BI211/plant_id.c
Basically, the user fills out a form with a few plant characteristics and then hits "submit." The computer compares the form data to a binary database and returns a list of families with matching characteristics.
The original CGI was written in C, but many people have told me that I need to update this to a more modern approach. Would Python be a good way to go? If so, can you give me any pointers on how to get started?
(I don't have any money to hire a programmer - I'm just a grad student - but I'd be happy to credit any volunteers on the finished site.) Thanks!